Blogging The Boys
The rookie is gaining knowledge slowly but surely.
FRISCO, Texas – With five of the six OTAs practices in the rear-view mirror, the Cowboys are beginning to lay the groundwork and basic installs for their offensive, defensive and special teams units ahead of training camp and the 2026 season.
First-round pick Caleb Downs is among the newcomers in Dallas that’s not only getting accustomed to the way the Cowboys do things, but how the NFL does things.
“It’s going well,” Downs said. “A really good learning experience for me. Get acclimated with everything, how we practice, what the standard is and everything like that. I think it’s an awesome time and I’m looking forward to next week in minicamp.”
There are learning opportunities all over the field for Downs to take advantage of. There’s his position room with veteran safeties like Malik Hooker, P.J. Locke and Jalen Thompson, who have a combined 25 years of experience playing the position at the NFL level.
“Just learning from their experiences. We have a lot of veterans in the safety room… All those guys, just trying to learn from them as much as I can,” Downs said. “They all have different experiences, so just pull from different pieces of them and try to create a good understanding of the league.”
Then there’s going up against the Cowboys’ offense in practice. Pro Bowlers and veterans like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb certainly don’t make things easy for the rookie.
“I think it’s a tremendous blessing for me just to be able to speed up my growth,” Downs said of practicing against Dallas’ offense. “Playing against high level talent, different types of receivers in terms of [KaVontae Turpin], CeeDee, and then the other guys like [Ryan Flournoy] and Traeshon Holden], just a lot of different talents to go up against. And also the tight ends like [Jake Ferguson], it’s a really good talent pool to be able to compete against during practice.”
Dallas needs Jaydon Blue to step it up in 2026.
Jaydon Blue was supposed to be a major piece of the Cowboys offense last year. Instead, the fifth-round running back out of Texas spent most of his rookie season inactive, logging just 38 rushing attempts over the entire schedule.
Blue was a non-factor, asked about frequently in press conferences but with coaches generally making vague references to him “not being ready” and alluding to poor practice habits. The most standout moment for Blue in his debut season wasn’t even his first career touchdown, scored in the Cowboys’ season finale versus the Giants, but rather, the day it was revealed that his custom “Louis Vuitton” cleats gave him blisters after wearing them for a midseason practice.
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